Eco-friendly Jews see a biblical call to dominion over the earth and responsibly care for creation (as Lutherant also mentioned in his take on Genesis). Groups in the U.S. and Israel are researching and rallying for sustainability, alternative energy and eco-friendly products, all in the name of Judaism.

When I lived in Chicago, I had the chance to visit the greenest house of worship in the country, the Jewish Reconstructionist Congregation synagogue. With its golden wood paneling, walls of windows and a copper-clad ark to hold the Torah scrolls, the sustainable building is also a beautiful one and reflects the congregation’s commitment to putting tikkun olam into action.

Although the concept has adopted by Jews across traditions to tie together religion and social justice movements, its origins come from a mystic account of creation.

According to a 16th-century Kabbalah scholar named Isaac Luria, to create the world, God had to make a place where God didn’t exist in order to flow divine spirit into it. When doing so, the vessels meant to hold sparks of God’s divine light shattered. While most of the light returned to its source, some became trapped in the broken pieces. Holiness was hidden inside his material creation. Man’s job became to find these holy pieces in the world and gather the light back for God. Hence we get, gathering the shards, putting the pieces together, tikkun olam.

This Kabbalist notion of the cosmos is actually reflected, almost directly, in a somewhat-obscure Richard Gere movie called Bee Season.

Fair warning: I am going to be a little spoiler-y about this movie. If you haven’t seen it and intend to, stop reading here.

The whole movie is very Kabbalah. Gere’s daughter is a spelling bee prodigy who visualizes the words through Jewish mysticism. While he coaches her through this enchanted practice, his wife is going crazy. She takes the Lurianic account of creation literally. Anytime she sees something that reflects light–shards of glass, mirrors, trinkets, crystals, she’ll take (steal) them and hoard them in a warehouse. They reflect the light beautifully, and she sees it as the light of God. Sadly, she ends up in a mental institution in the end, I think.

Here’s the trailer. Gere, who plays a religion professor, talks about tikkun olam around the 1:15 mark.

On Earth Day, I hope you’re bringing the pieces together in a way that you see spiritually fit in your world, whatever that might mean.